Coming of Age (episode)
Wesley takes Starfleet Academy entrance examination, while Picard faces a competence investigation. Summary Wes runs through a corridor to catch up with his friend Jake and tell him he's sorry that he didn't make the final exam for Starfleet Academy. Jake says it's okay and wishes Wes the best. The ''Enterprise'' is in orbit around Relva VII, where Wesley Crusher is sitting the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. Captain Picard's old friend, Admiral Gregory Quinn is also at Relva and he requests to beam aboard immediately. He brings Lieutenant Commander Remmick with him, and wants a private meeting with Picard, on official business. The three officers go to the ready room. Remmick is with the Inspector General's office and is there to conduct an investigation of the Enterprise. According to Quinn, there is something seriously wrong on the Enterprise, but he won’t tell Picard what. He orders him to cooperate fully with the investigation. On Relva, Wes is in the testing centre examining a flux coordinating sensor, when a human girl comes in. She introduces herself as Oliana Mirren, and she is also taking the test. Then a Vulcan, T'shanik, enters, along with a Benzite, Mordock. Wes has heard of Mordock; he constructed the Mordock strategy. The officer in charge of the test, Lieutenant Chang, enters. He tells them that they are all top candidates, but only one of them can go forward to the academy this year. He warns them that the test will be challenging, and wishes them the best. Remmick is on the bridge, watching the crew, who are not happy with his presence. Riker goes to the ready room to ask Picard what is going on. Picard tells him he doesn't know. Riker is unhappy with this, so when he returns to bridge and Remmick asks to talk to him, Riker refuses, saying he has duties to attend to. Down on the planet, the candidates are finishing one part of the test. Oliana comments how lucky Wes and Mordock are that everything comes so easy to them, but Wesley denies this, saying he has to study hard. Riker apologises to Picard for his earlier behaviour, and goes with Remmick when he asks him to. They go to the ready room, where Remmick questions Riker about discrepancies in the logs. Riker argues with him and is generally uncooperative. Remmick asks La Forge in engineering about the incident with Kosinski and the Traveler, and Geordi is forced to acknowledge that the captain lost control of the ship. He questions Troi about the incident with the ''Stargazer'', saying it demonstrated a mental lapse on Picard's part. Wesley is in an empty holodeck when Worf enters. Wes asks him about the test, saying he's most worried about the psych test. Worf tells him there's no point in worrying about something that you can't change. The test confronts you with your greatest fear, and Worf reveals that his own greatest difficulty is depending on someone else for his life. On the bridge, Yar detects an unauthorised entry to the shuttlebay. It is Jake Kurland, and he steals a shuttle, intending to sign onto a freighter. Picard orders him to return to the ship, but then Jake unbalances the dilithium reactor, and his engine stalls. He is heading for the atmosphere, where he will burn up. The tractor beam won't work and he's out of transporter range. He can't get the engine started as it needs time to cool down, and he starts to panic. Picard orders him to point the nose of the shuttle towards the planet. Jake initially resists but then he does as he's told. Picard tells him to restart the engines and pull up when he reaches a certain speed. Jake does this and manages to pull out in time. All on the bridge cheer, and Geordi says that he built up enough speed, and then bounced the shuttle off the atmosphere. Remmick questions Picard on how he got access to the shuttle, but Picard assures him that he will get a refresher in discipline. Wes and Mordock meet a tall Starfleet officer called Rondon in a corridor down on Relva. He bumps into Wesley and starts to insult him. Wes apologises, then Lt. Chang arrives. Wes stops apologising and shouts at Rondon. All of a sudden Rondon's mood changes, and he laughs and leaves. Chang asks what happened, and Wes says he noticed that he was a Zaldan, and Zaldans hate courtesy. They see it as covering up true emotions. Chang congratulates him and tells him it was part of the test. Mordock admits he wouldn’t have passed. Remmick interviews other crewmembers, amoung them Worf and Data, who says that there is nothing wrong with Picard, despite Remmick's claim to the contrary. He also questions Dr. Crusher, asking her how she feels serving with the man who was responsible for the death of her husband. She says her personal feelings are irrelevant. He finally questions Picard himself about his violation of the Prime Directive with the Edo. Picard gets angry and goes to Quinn to ask him what’s going on. Quinn tells him Remmick’s report is nearly due. The candidates are taking another test and Mordock is having trouble, so Wes helps him. Mordock finishes first, and Chang comes in and tells him his time was the second fastest ever. Mordock tells him that Wes helped him, but Chang knows this. There is only one test left – the psych test. Remmick makes his report to Quinn, and tells him he could find no problem on the Enterprise despite his best efforts. Quinn dismisses him, tells Picard he had to be sure about him. He says there are problems in the Federation and that someone is trying to destroy it. He says he needs people he can trust, and offers Picard promotion to admiral, as Commandant of Starfleet Academy. Picard says he doesn’t think he’s the best man for the job, but promises to think about it. Wes enters the room where the psych test will take place. It is empty except for a chair. At first nothing happens, then he hears a noise outside. He goes out, and the corridor is deserted. He hears shouting coming from the environmental lab. He goes in and sees a technician trapped under a pipe. Another technician is frozen with panic and won't leave. He frees the trapped man, and drags him out, but has only just enough time to get him out before the lab is sealed off. He sees Lt. Chang standing over him. He tells Wes that this was the psych test, confronting his fear of having to choose between saving one man and leaving another. This was because the same situation resulted in the death of his father. Chang says he's proud of all the candidates and hopes they will all return next year. He reveals that Mordock has won, and tells him that Wes' help wasn't the only difference between them. The other candidates congratulate him. On the Enterprise, Picard is walking down the corridor when he meets Jake, who apologises for what he did. Picard reminds him that running away solves nothing, but compliments him for keeping his wits about him. He finds Wesley in the observation lounge. He tells Picard that he failed the exam and let him down. Picard disagrees, saying that as long as he did his best, and would improve next year, he shouldn't worry. He then confides that he failed the test the first time himself. Quinn is leaving, and says he's sorry that Picard turned down the promotion. Picard promises that he will be ready if Quinn needs him. With that Quinn beams back down to Relva. Background Information *A scene cut for time showed Wesley's friends helping celebrate his sixteenth birthday. Memorable Quotes "Just how did this contaminant come onboard?" "By accident, sir." "Meaning that Captain Picard has no standing procedure for this type of situation?" "No. Meaning "by accident," sir." "You don't like me very much, do you?" "Is it required, sir?" :Remmick, Worf Guest Stars *Ward Costello as Admiral Gregory Quinn *Robert Schenkkan as Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick *John Putch as Mordock *Robert Ito as Lieutenant Chang *Stephen Gregory as Jake Kurland *Tasia Valenza as T'shanik *Estee Chandler as Oliana Mirren *Brendan McKane as Technician *Wyatt Knight as Technician *Daniel Riordan as Rondon References Kosinski, USS Stargazer, Thought maker, Edo, Edo God, Vulcan, Benzite, Mordock strategy, Vulcana Regar, anti-matter, Zaldan, Jack Crusher, Starfleet Academy, Inspector General, Galaxy class Category:TNG episodes de:Prüfungen nl:Coming of Age